The present invention, as indicated by the heading, is for a xe2x80x9cLOCKING ELEMENT FOR ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR UNITxe2x80x9d, the new characteristics of which as regards construction, conformation, and design comply with the objective for which it has been specifically planned with maximum safety and efficiency.
The purpose of the electrical connectors that currently exist on the market is that of centralising cables in, for example, vehicles. The electrical connectors essentially have a housing manufactured using an appropriate non-conductive material inside of which are contained the electrical terminals associated with the corresponding cables. To achieve this, the interiors of the housings are divided up into a number of chambers through which the corresponding cables pass. In addition, they incorporate the means of assembly and immobilisation between connectors, as well as other familiar means by which to insert the unit into the corresponding junction boxes as and when necessary.
From a construction point of view, the connectors must include a configuration that allows for the female terminals to be coupled with the corresponding male terminals in a rapid and efficient manner, and at the same time allow for the use of a large number of identical connectors for the linking of the male and female terminals. Another of the characteristics that electrical connectors must include is that of guaranteeing the order in which the terminals are laid out inside the connector, as well as the means to avoid the separation of the terminals due to undesirable influences upon the electric cables.
As regards the technical aspects to which the object of the present invention refers, the connectors in question are those of the type that include a number of locking elements that attempt to secure the internal position of the terminals. These terminal locking elements or anchoring system allow for the position of the terminals inside the connector to be maintained.
Conventional housings contain a terminal locking element to secure the position of the terminal in respect to the housing. The locking element is inserted into the housing once the terminals have been correctly fitted within the interior of the housing. Generally speaking, the conventional structure of the locking element consists of what is fundamentally a rectangular plate that includes a number of circular openings to allow for the passage of the cables. Two parallel plates emerge perpendicularly from this first plate, both of which are fitted with a plurality of ridges running parallel with each other thus defining a number of grooves that correspond to the aforementioned openings and serve as guides for the cabling.
There exist connectors in which both the male and female terminals are introduced via the upper or lower part of the connector. There also exist connectors into which the terminals are inserted laterally, as described in Spanish utility model Num. 9503317 of the same applicant. In this case, the cable is inserted into a connector of an appreciably prismatic configuration, but lacking one of its main seatings, thus making it possible to connect the male terminal and the female terminal by positioning one of them within the specially provided cavity within the interior of the connector. The terminal locking elements are attached to one of the interior dividing partitions of the connector that form the aforementioned chambers.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,509, an electrical connector assembly is described which includes an elongated housing having a plurality of terminal-receiving cavities extending transversely of the housing. For the maintenance of the terminals inside the connector exists an elongated bifurcated terminal position assurance device which includes a pair of longitudinal legs insertable into two channels unless one of the channels is blocked by a portion of one of the terminals in either row thereof.
Other documents which disclose locking elements of the type described above are EP-A-054008, EP-A-0599165 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,341.
The principal objective of the invention herewith presented is to provide a locking element for an electrical connector unit, especially for an electrical connector unit to be used in the technical sector of automobile manufacture, and one that could be used in different types of connectors without the need to modify the internal geometry of the connector.
Generally speaking, the electrical connector units for which the locking element presented here has been invented are of the type described above. This is to say that they consist of a housing adapted to accommodate a number of electrical terminals associated with their corresponding cables and a locking element to hold the terminals in place. The distinguishing feature of the locking element lies in the fact that it is slide-mounted in the connector casing thereby forming part of one of the lateral walls thereof. Furthermore, the locking element includes a longitudinal flange that protrudes into the interior of the connector in order to retain the terminals in place in such a way that the locking element fixes the terminals transversally with respect to their position within the connector.
In order to slide-mount the locking element in the connector casing, the locking element has a dovetail shape adapted to fit into a track incorporated into at least one of the lateral walls of the connector.